Waiting Has Many Meanings
by darkopacity
Summary: After two months of training Uub, Goku decides to make a short visit to Mount Paozu. A warm welcoming isn't exactly what he gets.  Follows the Dragon Ball Online timeline and English dub


I'd like to take a moment and thank literaturelove6 on Tumblr. She is a ridiculously good writer and she was my beta for the first part of the story. Many thanks go to her!

(Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z)

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><p>The night air breezes through the kitchen window. The chimes that hang at the frame jingle without any rhyme or reason. They are her only company. Every day, her small house feels more spacious; more...hollow. She inhales the cool, fresh night air into her lungs. Funny how it starts to feel like it burns through her.<p>

Chi Chi closes her eyes, honing in of the voices she hears next door. Her eldest son's family was still awake. She could hear the light giggles of her granddaughter, bringing a smile to her face. She decided a long time ago that she couldn't hold onto things forever. Gohan's family lived so close that she could hear them when her own house was quiet. These sounds were things that she wanted to keep sacred and undisturbed. She listens closely to the sweet overheard happiness, yet keeps her distance.

Besides, children grow up. People move on. No one stays in the same place forever.

Tonight, the older woman let her youngest son sleep over his best friend's house. She was never that strict on the boy. She learned that she had to always cherish the moments she had with the men in her life—and if that meant that she had to give them their freedom too, so be it. He's even going off to college soon enough. They grow up too fast. Isn't that what every mother feels like? Is it normal to feel that her tiny abode was too big all of a sudden? Is it odd to feel the walls close in on her despite it feeling vacant?

The laughter stops, and the lights go out. Now, all she hears are the vagrant digs of the chimes.

The chilled breeze erupts through her window without warning. The peaceful chimes clang vigorously loud. For a moment after, the chimes settle down, and it's peaceful again.

Someone is knocking on her wooden door.

She runs. She runs to turn the knob, and it feels like it is miles away. Chi Chi yanks it open, looking up. He's wearing that foolish smile, giggling with his hand at the back of his wild hair.

"Hi, Chi Chi!" he chirps cheerfully, wrapping his large muscled arms around her in a tight embrace. For a second, she forgets the empty house and its ridged walls encasing her. And when he releases his hold, the cold night floods back into her world. He walks past her, into the doorway. She stares, speechless. Emotions collide. She can't hold it in any longer. Tears stream from her eyes and plant down onto the floorboard, she wails without restrain. Her head bows and water drops fall into miniature puddles on the floor.

Goku spins around, shocked by her reaction. "Chi Chi, what's wrong?" He questions, grabbing her shoulders.

"How can you walk in here like...nothing has changed?" Her weeping cuts at her words. "How did you even know that I would be here to open the door and let you in?"

His strong hands slide off her shoulders, lax all of the sudden.

Chi Chi was always a constant in his life. When wasn't she there to greet him, whether it was after a year...or seven?

But, he actually didn't know if she would be there to greet him at the door.

And why should she? Wasn't she able to take care of two children on her own when he was away? One who already has his own family? The youngest will leave soon enough, too. But, what about her? Does she really need him to be there for her? Does she even _want _him after his stretched absences?

_Does she?_

These thoughts that he used to let wander in the back of his mind are now grappled in front of him.

He hangs his own head low. "I never knew for sure if you would take me back," he confides. His gentle smile is slight and relaxed, masking what he worried about for all this time. Did she realize that he has had his own uncertainties? When she asked him if things could go back to normal for their family after defeating Kid Buu, he simply told her they would if they could put up with him. It was always up to her.

Her head springs upright. "Don't you understand? I care so much for you, Goku. Every part of me _never_ gives up on you—not my mind, my body... my soul. I'm always here. I'm always waiting. Even when...even when _it hurts too much_." She heaves on her own sputtering words.

'_It hurts too much._' It's said through a painfully forced whisper, ringing in his ears.

"Chi Chi..." He clears a falling line of tears on her cheek with his fingers, brushing her hair back behind her ear. "I'm sorry," he adds. "I know you've heard it too many times already. But, I have to do this for everyone. It needs to be done now before I won't be able to do it at all."

She draws in a clogged sniff. "I know. I really do. But why does it have to be _my_ Goku making sure the world is safe? _I love you,_ Goku. I can't ever deny you want you want. But, I get this feeling like… like I'm some second thought."

"No. No, it's not like that at all. This is for our kids...and for all those little future grand-kids we'll never meet. I have to make sure that this world is at peace. This is for _us_."

Out of all the things she had to accept in her life, Goku being a born fighter was one she had to respect wholeheartedly. She knows that it is woven in his life. There was no possibility of taking it away. And deep down, she knows that she, herself, couldn't be torn out of his life either. She is a part of him. Why else would he come back and seek her out first before anyone else? His timing was always terrible, but him coming back was also an unchangeable truth; much like Chi Chi's enduring patience.

"I promise you," he assures her. "I won't make you wait anymore after all this is over."

"You promise? For sure?"

"Promise. Forever."

He leans towards her, enfolding his lips with hers. Their mouths capture the other in a enduring hold, smoothing over each other's silken touch. They break away slowly to view each other in a faint glance.

She murmurs into his skin, "I'm getting too old for this."

"Never."

He grins, and scoops her off her feet. "It's late, Chi Chi. It's time to go to bed."

Goku caries her to their bedroom like newlyweds heading through the threshold of their home: a concept he had no understanding of the first day they walked into their humble abode. But tonight, she feels new again. All the times they missed out on making conventional memories are pushed aside for their own unique keepsakes. How could they expect anything else?

On this chilled evening, the warmth of his arms envelope her. She rests her head against his wholesome chest under their fluffed blankets. For the first time in a while, the calm of the dusk eases her mind, and her worries drift away into the night.

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><p>It all happened too fast. One moment, Goku teases his wife to nudge her awake, and the next everyone is gathered in their bedroom, sobbing. The doctor said it happened when she was asleep. She didn't feel a thing, apparently.<p>

Goku stands outside in the doorway, staring at the people saying their last goodbyes. All their apologies and words of sympathy barely phase him. His extended family and friends finally disperse as the day goes by. His sons watch as he enters the room for the first time since he left it that day. An ocherous gleam bathes the room from the setting sun on the other side of the window. She looks so calm in this state. He wanted to tell himself that she's only sleeping. If only he could convince himself.

Goku kneels down by the edge of the bed. He smiles gently at how serene she seems. He combs his fingers through her silver streaked strands, reveling in the velvety feeling. They were both at the ripe age of sixty-four, but he hardly looked a day over thirty. Her frail hollow body yields to every one of his movements. Goku bends down to land a kiss on her forehead. He coasts down her face to whisper into her ear.

"I know I told you I wouldn't make you wait, but I have to go now. I'll see you soon, Chi Chi."

He presses his cheek against hers for one last time before getting up and exiting their bedroom. Gohan dares to speak as he watches his father walk towards them.

"Dad-"

"Gohan. Goten," Goku stops him and grabs both of his sons in a tight hold. "I love you two. Please take care of each other."

They both know exactly what he's about to do. They shout to him. Pleading with him not to go.

"Dad!...DAD! No!"

But, after the door shuts, they know they can't do anything to stop him. The sun peaks behind the horizon, and stains the room red.

Vegeta leans against the dome house with his arms folded. He had been waiting for Goku the whole time. He knows what is ahead of them as well.

Goku questions him, "Did you tell-"

Vegeta shoots him a stern look. "I told Bulma already. She...understands somehow."

The taller Saiyan smirks as he lays his hand on his friend's shoulder, and points his fingers to his forehead. In a flash, they are gone.

No one really remembers what day it was on, or how much time wedged itself between the day they left and the night it happened. But, on one cold silent night, a flash stung in the cobalt sky. It burned like fire down onto the millions of eyes watching. And to a few who knew, it was the closing chapter to many legends.


End file.
